The Ice Bear Project is a not-for-profit arts organisation. The inspiration behind it has come from animal sculptor, Mark Coreth. He witnessed the effects of climate change when he first travelled to Baffin Island during November 2007. Mark knew that few will ever experience the Arctic, but realised that he could bring the Arctic to everyone in the form of an Ice Bear sculptural event.
The Ice Bear Project is non-political. We simply believe that great art alone can speak for itself and has a significant role to play in connecting us all to the natural world.
Three plaques are placed in the ice below the Ice Bear. The text for them was written by Professor Peter Wadhams (Head of Ocean Physics at the University of Cambridge), Clive Desiré-Tesar (Head of Communications for WWF-International Arctic Programme ) and Pen Hadow (Director and Head of Surveying for the Catlin Arctic Survey).
1. The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment of the Arctic Council states: polar bears are unlikely to survive as a species if there is an almost complete loss of summer sea-ice cover. The five countries where polar bears live agreed this year (2009) they cannot meet their obligations to protect the bears if the ice goes.
2. The summer sea-ice cover in the Arctic Ocean has both shrunk and thinned by 45% since the 1970s, losing 70% of its former volume. It is projected to disappear completely in less than 30 years.
3. The negative impacts on both the peoples and animals of the Arctic are likely to be far greater than any benefits they may gain from a warming Arctic, as climate changes threaten to undermine ecosystems and cultures that have endured for thousands of years.
For more information on the polar bear, the Arctic and the changes that are taking place:
